A recent study has found that restricting sugar in the first 1,000 days of life is associated with a significant reduction in the risk of brain and mind diseases, most notably Alzheimer's, in later life.
The new study revealed that reducing sugar consumption during pregnancy up to the age of two may lower the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by up to 46%, and also reduces the risk of depression, anxiety and dementia in general.
The results also indicate that some health benefits may begin even before birth.
The study, published in the journal npj Aging, was based on a unique natural phenomenon made possible by World War II, when the United Kingdom imposed a strict sugar rationing system.
During that period and for several years afterward, children under the age of two did not receive a sugar ration. However, after the end of rationing in September 1953, adult sugar consumption nearly doubled.
The researchers took advantage of these natural conditions to conduct their study, as it would be unethical to deliberately restrict a child's diet in a scientific experiment. A team of researchers in China analyzed the health records of 60,394 people born between 1951 and 1956, registered in the UK Biobank, a massive medical database.
The researchers divided the participants into three groups: the first group was subjected to rationing only while in the womb, the second group was subjected to rationing while in the womb and early childhood together, and the third group was a control group that was not subjected to rationing in either period.
The results showed that those who underwent sugar restriction for the first 1,000 days were 27% less likely to develop dementia, 46% less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, 20% less likely to develop anxiety, and 11% less likely to develop depression, compared to the control group. No effect was observed on Parkinson's disease.
The researchers also analyzed MRI scans of 9,053 participants and found that the brains of those who underwent rationing appeared 0.39 years younger than expected, and some areas associated with memory and cognition, such as the hippocampus and thalamus, were larger.
The research team indicates that these results support a link between early nutrition and long-term brain health, but they emphasize that more studies on modern population groups are needed to confirm these findings, and stress the need for replication before they can be converted into health or clinical recommendations.
